A Guardian's Battle
by jadedmagnets
Summary: Junior year has just started for Toothiana, Jackson, Aster, Sandy, and Nic. They've got new responsibilities, privileges, and even jobs. But Aster's new job at the Natural Science Center ends up leading the gang to some mysterious caverns deep in the woods. What happens once they get there will change their lives forever. Superhero AU. Eventual Rainbow Snowcone.
1. An Offer Taken

"I still think it's freaking stupid."

"Oh, no surprise there."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know exactly what it means, Overland."

"No, no, _please_ explain to me in excessive detail what it is you mean."

Toothiana put down her turkey sandwich and glared at her bickering friends. Jackson and Aster were always like this, constantly going back and forth. It had to be exhausting, but they still never failed to argue. "Will you give it a rest? We're all trying to eat in peace over here."

Nic nodded thankfully, sighing as he picked up his can of soda. Sandy simply rested his head in his hands and watched, knowing that this wouldn't be the end of it.

They could only wish, right?

"Oh, come on, Tooth! You've got to admit you think it's stupid too. _Only one off-campus lunch every month_\- what a joke! I didn't make it this far in high school just to have my privileges taken away!" Jackson responded, shooting a fiery glare at the Australian he'd been arguing with.

"No, she doesn't. Why? Because she's sensible. She knows that the school is just trying to keep us safe. Right, Tooth?" Aster's green eyes met Toothiana's oddly violet ones in a plea of agreement. He couldn't be the only one that was fine with the new policy. Tooth had to understand.

But Toothiana just blinked and looked away. "I think that we should just stop thinking about it and go about our day. That's what I think."

Jackson smirked in victory, crossing his arms over his blue hoodie. "You were saying, Kangaroo?"

Aster threw down the fork in his hand and pointed at Jackson threateningly. "Listen here, you bloody show pony-"

"Aster! Calm down friend!" Nicolas cut in, throwing his arms up. "And Jackson, you know Aster does not like pet name. Stop using it."

"Ugh, it's not a pet name. It is annoying, though. That's for damn sure." Aster retorted, going back to his food.

It was quiet for a few moments, everyone silently eating their lunch. Sandy sighed and shook his head, thankful that everyone had finally stopped their bantering. It happened almost every day since freshman year, when Jackson first joined their little circle of friends.

Nicolas, Aster, Sandy, and Toothiana all first started hanging together in seventh grade because of a class project in their English class. They belonged to their own little groups of friends at the time, but none of them really clicked like they did when they were working together. They were all best friends by the time they'd made it to high school and when Toothiana noticed that the new kid was sitting by himself for the third week in a row at lunch, she decided to intervene.

And that's how Jackson ended up being their newest addition.

"Wait, do you really think it's stupid, Tooth?" Aster asked.

Everyone in the group groaned, not happy with Aster's relentless question.

Tooth looked at Aster through narrowed eyes. She wasn't usually this peeved. She liked to think she was a bubbly, happy person. But this topic of conversation was definitely pushing it. "Aster, really?"

"I just wanna know!"

Toothiana wiped her sweaty bangs away from her forehead and ran a hand through her hair. The guys always insisted on sitting outside, even when it was almost ninety degrees out, just like it was that day. She frowned as some of the yellow, pink, and blue hair dye rubbed off on her hands. Keeping her eyes on her hair, she answered in a small voice, "Well. Uh. Yeah. I do."

Jackson threw a fist in the air, whooping, "Bingo! Told y-"

"But!" Toothiana interrupted, giving Jackson a rather stern look. "That doesn't mean I'm going to gripe about it. The school has made their decision. And as much of a sucky decision it is, we've got to deal with it. Besides- we're juniors! Only two more years and we're out of here!"

Nicolas grinned, "That is right! We are two weeks into junior year! It is too soon to start complaining."

Sandy, now content with the new view on the conversation, nodded and signed, _"I agree."_

"Speaking of decisions-" Toothiana turned back to Aster, who was now smiling in the slightest bit, and brought up his job offer. "Did you take up on the Natural Science Center's offer?"

Aster had received a letter in the mail, explaining how the Natural Science Center got a recommendation from his biology teacher the year before about his interest in botany. They said that since he was now legally old enough he could look into a getting a job there, and if he was interested he could come by and speak with the head scientist of the botany department. He'd went the week before and spoken to Dr. Henders, who gladly offered him a job as an assistant of sorts in her lab. However, Aster was hesitant about taking the job, as his junior year looked to be his busiest yet.

"Aw, Tooth, you know how crazy things are going to be this year." Aster replied.

Jackson ran a hand through his brown hair, shutting his eyes, "Did you seriously turn down a job offer? Man, I need a job. If you don't want it, see if they'll take me." He laughed as he said this, just imagining himself making an attempt at fully understanding science.

"Too bad, Overland. You'll have to keep searching." Aster beamed.

Toothiana lit up with excitement for her friend. "You took the job?" she exclaimed.

Aster nodded, "Sure did. I figured that if I'm going to be doing this someday I might as well get a firsthand look at it. I start tomorrow."

Tooth squealed and patted him on the shoulder, "Oh, I'm so happy for you! That's great!"

Aster was excited too. When he received the letter, he was so hesitant about just going to the Natural Science Center in the first place. They let people tour their labs during the summer, and Aster visited it quite often. The people that worked there were always nice and willing to answer any questions he had. It was only during the school year that they were closed to the public, and now Aster would be working on the inside.

He couldn't wait to tell his geology teacher, Mr. Moon, about his new job.

* * *

Jackson nudged the taller boy as they walked through Mr. Moon's door that afternoon. "You gonna tell him?"

"Calm down, Overland. We just walked in." Aster told him.

He and Jackson could be good friends when they wanted to. It was only when their attitudes got the best of them both when they had problems. After all, if they constantly hated each other North, Sandy, and Tooth would get tired of it pretty quickly.

Mr. Moon sat at his desk, going over some work from his previous class when Aster approached him. He was one of the best teachers in the school, but also one of the strangest looking ones. His hair and beard were pure white, even though he couldn't be more than forty-five years old, and his eyes were such a dark blue that they looked black from a distance.

"Hey, Mr. Moon. I've got some great news for you." Aster said, leaning over his teacher's desk.

Mr. Moon looked up at the two teenagers in front of him. "Hello Aster. Hello Jackson. What is this good news?"

"Aster here got a job!" Jackson announced, earning an unamused look from Aster.

"Oh, really? Where at Aster? I trust you'll be doing something you love." Mr. Moon smiled.

"The Natural Science Center." Aster replied, turning back to his teacher.

The older man's smile faltered for just a moment as he recalled the name. "Oh." He said absently.

Aster and Jackson were caught off-guard at his response. Shouldn't he be happy about it? Aster was one of his best students and he was pursuing his interest in science.

"Uh…" Aster gave Jackson a confused look. Jackson shrugged in reply, clearly not understanding either. "Yeah. You know, it's on the other side of town and-"

"Yes, yes I know." Mr. Moon paused, swallowing thickly before going on. "Aster," he began in a low voice. "There is a man there. A former colleague of mine. We worked together in the geology department many, many years ago. You must not cross his path. He's dangerous."

Aster's eyebrows knit together. Dangerous? Why would a dangerous man work at a science facility? "Mr. Moon, what do you mean?"

"He is very obsessive with his work and he doesn't like to be meddled with. Just stay out of his way and you should be fine." Mr. Moon told him.

Jackson cut in, his own curiosity welling up. "Who is he?"

Mr. Moon sighed. He hadn't ever planned on talking about any of this again. At least it wasn't to the extent he feared it would be.

"He's the head scientist of the geology department. His name is Kozmotis Pitchiner."


	2. Staring Yellow Eyes and Everyday Things

A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for the feedback on the first chapter! I really appreciate it! So, here's the second chapter and enjoy :)

* * *

It was kind of really intimidating to stand in a room full of experienced scientists when you're just a kid in high school.

"This is Aster. He's a student at Burgess High and he'll be my assistant for the duration of his school year." Dr. Henders said as she laid a hand on Aster's shoulder. "He plans on working in botany and I'd like for him to learn as much as possible while he's here. So, I'd really appreciate it if we all helped him out a bit, whether it's answering a question or explaining how something works."

"Welcome to the team!" Someone called out enthusiastically from the back of the room.

Laughs broke out and some people started clapping.

"See? No need to be nervous, they like you already." Dr. Henders whispered to Aster.

It only eased Aster a little bit, but he still smiled, trying not to seem too intimidated. "Ha, guess so." He replied, messing with the sleeve of his new white lab coat. But as his eyes scanned the crowd, he came across a startling pair of yellow eyes.

It was like he was untouched by what was going on around him, like nothing mattered but his own hardened stare which he kept on the young high school student in front of him. He was grayish and still, like stone.

It scared Aster and he looked away, feeling as though he trespassed on forbidden ground. He'd never seen eyes that color or such a rotten look directed at him- not even by Jackson.

"Aster?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he blurted, "Yes?"

Dr. Henders raised her eyebrow, "Are you alright?"

"Huh?" Aster asked. "What? Uh- yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

She couldn't really believe him, but she also couldn't blame him for being so nervous. So she brushed past his strange behavior. "We've still got a bit of time before the break ends. Would like to greet some of the scientists?"

Aster glanced out into the crowd, searching for the yellow eyes without a second thought.

They were gone.

He relaxed a little and nodded, "Yeah, sure."

And so he went from table to table with Dr. Henders, where scientists sat for their breaks. They all had something to talk about, whether it be the main project they were working on, their theories, or a cheesy joke about rock formations. Some were young, some were old, but they all had the same look of passion and interest in their eyes.

_Guess I won't be getting tired of doing this. That'll be nice._

He had just gotten done talking to another scientist who was studying the water quality in a nearby lake when he turned away and bumped right into someone.

"Excuse you." They hissed in a strong British accent.

Aster looked up and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the familiar yellow eyes staring him down.

Still, he found himself saying, "Listen, mate, it was an accident."

"Then maybe you should watch where you're going."

Aster felt his patience diminishing by the second. Who did this guy think he was? Why was he glaring at him earlier? Why did he seem to hate Aster? He had absolutely no reason to. He'd just barely met him! "Look, I said it was-"

"Oh, Kozmotis." Dr. Henders was suddenly by his side, looking apprehensively at the yellow-eyed man. "You're getting acquainted with my assistant, I see?"

_Kozmotis._

_You must not cross his path. He's dangerous._

Oh God.

The older scientist gave a wry smile. "I'd rather you refer to me as Dr. Pitchiner."

Dr. Henders' gaze didn't falter, nor did her polite smile. "Of course." She grabbed Aster's shoulders and shook them encouragingly. "Aster, this is Dr. Pitchiner. He's been here a little bit longer than I have and he's the head scientist of the geology department."

The two men stared at each other, Aster in shock and Dr. Pitchiner in annoyance.

Dr. Henders rolled her eyes, amused at their little tiff. "You know, a handshake would be polite, Aster."

Aster blinked. "Right. Sorry." He stuck out his hand.

Dr. Pitchiner's eyes flicked down to the teenage boy's outstretched hand. He considered turning and leaving, telling Dr. Henders that he'd see her some other time and ignoring Aster completely.

But he didn't.

Instead, he grasped Aster's tan and warm hand with his own gray and frigid one.

Aster immediately wanted to yank his hand away; he felt like he was shaking hands with a corpse. But he fought the urge and mustered up a smile. "Sorry about bumping into you. Just a little overwhelmed I guess."

Dr. Pitchiner bared his teeth in a lame attempt at a grin. "It's fine."

They let go.

It was quiet for a moment, and Dr. Henders simply observed. She wanted to see how the two of them would react.

Nobody ever really talked to Kozmotis and she was curious to see just how he handle human interaction.

Dr. Pitchiner was curious too. Aster was from the same school that Moon taught at now. It made Dr. Pitchiner cringe inwardly. He'd hate to work with teenagers. Not to mention the wage cut that came with teaching. And Moon was _so_ talented at what he did…

"Do you know a Moon?"

The question confused Aster and he pulled away from the scientist. "A moon?" And then he realized what he meant, but he wasn't sure if he should tell. Mr. Moon hadn't seemed too comfortable with talking about Dr. Pitchiner

But Aster hadn't even had a chance to lie; Dr. Pitchiner had gotten frustrated with him and practically snapped, "Do you know anyone with the name 'Moon'? Sorry, I thought you were able to understand what I meant."

Dr. Henders made a face at the backhanded comment, but stayed silent.

"Yeah, no, I get what you mean. Uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, unsure of what he should do. "I think?"

Dr. Pitchiner smirked.

The boy was a horrible liar.

And Dr. Pitchiner wasn't afraid to let Aster know that he knew it. "Tell him I said hello. He'll know who I am." He told him a voice that could cut through steel.

"Alright, break's over! Head back to your labs!" Someone shouted behind them.

Dr. Henders let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She felt a little guilty about making Aster her temporary guinea pig, but that would be the last of it. She rarely ever saw Kozmotis outside of his lab. Not that she wanted to, either. "Come on, Aster. You've got work to do now." Dr. Henders said warmly, smiling as she began to steer an uneasy Aster away from Dr. Pitchiner. "I'll see you again, Dr. Pitchiner." She said, more like a statement than a goodbye.

"I will see you around, Dr. Henders. You too, Aster." Dr. Pitchiner said, not bothering to move as he watched them leave.

The man was like stone again, cold and watchful.

And Aster was afraid to know why Mr. Moon had called him dangerous. But he knew his science teacher was right.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toothiana was in a much less intimidating situation herself.

In fact, she was leaning over and watching with a critical eye as her father worked to put braces on a preteen boy named Marvin.

When all was done and over with, Toothiana's dad grinned and stepped back. "Take a look, Toothie. What do you think?"

Toothiana did as she was told and looked down at the young boy's new braces. He'd chosen blue bands and they made the new brackets on his teeth stand out. He had bright white teeth, obviously well taken care of, and his teeth were relatively straight already. But his jaw needed to be aligned and the braces would hopefully help with that problem.

"Looks good, Dr. HyLoo." Toothiana replied, calling her father by his professional name.

Her father grinned even wider and turned back to Marvin. "Do you want to see, Marvin?"

"Uh." He flicked his tongue over his braces experimentally. "Sure." Marvin nodded. He didn't seem too happy and Tooth could figure why. She'd never really seen a patient that was actually happy about receiving braces.

"Be right back." And with that, Tooth's dad excused himself.

She took advantage of his absence and turned to the young boy sympathetically, "You okay?"

He shrugged. "I guess. It's just my first year in middle school and I don't want anybody to remember me with dorky braces or something."

"Oh, pffft." Tooth waved her hand dismissively. "Trust me, no one will care. There'll be other kids getting braces all throughout middle school and high school. It's all a part of the experience."

Marvin raised his eyebrows at her comforting words. "Really?"

Tooth smiled warmly, nodding herself. "Really."

He mirrored her expression, showing off his new braces. "Thanks." But then the smile disappeared and he raised an eyebrow. "Why does your dad call you 'Tooth'? Is it just a nickname or-"

"It's my name." Tooth immediately told him. Then she reconsidered, "Well, okay, it's _kind of_ a nickname. My full name is Toothiana."

Marvin gave her an odd look and she was worried for a moment that he might make a rude comment about it or even make fun of her, but then he smirked. "That's cool. Mine's just Marvin. Sometimes people call me Marv, but only my friends."

Just as Marvin finished telling Toothiana this and pleasantly surprising her, her father walked in carrying a small mirror. "Alright, Marvin. Look at the new you."

He handed it to the young boy and Marvin smiled widely, checking out his new teeth.

"Do you like them?"

Marvin looked away and handed the mirror back, giving a small nod. "Thanks, Dr. HyLoo."

"And thank you, Marvin, for being a good patient." He replied, taking the mirror. "Now let's go talk to your mother about taking care of your new smile!" Tooth's dad rubbed his hands together excitedly as he led Marvin out of the room and into the waiting area.

Tooth gave a small wave at Marvin as he left, feeling like she'd made a tiny but important difference in his outlook. "Bye, Marv."

He turned back and smiled once again, waving. "Bye, Tooth."

Her father gave her a questioning look, but then he continued on his way out.

* * *

"So, Toothiana made a friend today."

"Oh, did she now?" Tooth's mother glanced at her. "Was it your hair? You know how the little ones just adore your hair."

Tooth ran a hand subconsciously through her hair at the mention of it. It was a dark, glossy brown that was cut shoulder-length. The lower half of it wasn't brown, however, and instead an ombre of the color yellow, pink, and blue. They all faded into each other, reminding her of a tropical sunset. It was usually a source of amusement and awe for her parents' younger patients, but not in this case. "No, actually."

"What happened while I was gone?" Tooth's father asked her as they walked through the emptying halls of their office.

Tooth shrugged, "He was just a little self-conscious about his braces. I told him it wasn't really a big deal."

Her mother beamed with approval. "That's my girl. You'll be great at this, I can tell already."

She was referring to dentistry, as her parents both operated their own office together. Often times, Tooth would drive herself there after school and help them out. She'd been doing it since she got her license and it was something she thoroughly enjoyed. Teeth had always been fascinating to her and when her parents offered to let her help them out with their everyday jobs, she was more than happy to make after school trips there.

"I hope so. I'd love to do this." Tooth gestured grandly to the office around her.

Tooth's dad rested his arm on her shoulder as reminded her, "And you will, Toothie. You will."

* * *

"Jackson, can I use your skateboard?" Claude shouted from across the street.

Jackson looked up from the homework he was doing. He had been sitting outside on his front steps, his skateboard leaned up against them, so that he could keep an eye on his younger sister as she played with the younger kids on their street. Jackson shook his head, giving a lopsided smile, "I'm sorry, Claude, but not right now."

Claude frowned, his arms going limp at his sides. "Aw, Jackson!"

"One of these days, Claude! One of these days…" Jackson's voice trailed off. To be honest, he was just afraid that Claude would hurt himself on his skateboard. If the young boy had some good experience riding, he would've been more than happy to let him use it. But he didn't, and Jackson did want any parents to be mad at him because their kid had gotten hurt.

"Can you play, then?" Another boy called out.

Jackson looked back up and saw that it was Jamie calling out to him.

He was holding a Frisbee and he had a pleading look on his face, using his own wide brown eyes to his advantage.

Jackson sighed and set his homework aside on the steps before standing up and stretching. He checked to make sure Emma was still with Pippa and Cupcake down the street. Once he saw his little sister sitting in a small circle, drawing various things in one of the girl's yard with chalk, he continued across the street.

"Okay, Jamie. You're distracting me. Better make this a good game!" Jackson said once he was on the sidewalk.

Jamie raised his eyebrows before smiling deviously. "Oh, I will!"

And before Jackson knew it, it was two hours later and he was still playing Frisbee with Claude and Jamie, while his paper lay untouched across the street.

Soon his mom came home and saw her son doing what he had been doing since they'd first moved to Burgess. "Jackson, I'm home!" She shouted.

Jackson turned and saw his mother, Frisbee still in his hands. He grinned and waved with the Frisbee. "Hey, Mom!" Turning back to Jamie, his handed him the Frisbee. "Gotta head home now, you two."

They both said their goodbyes after making the teenager promise to play again the next day.

"Em!" Jackson called down the street.

She looked up, her eyes so much like his own, and replied, "Yeah?"

Jackson nodded towards their house. "Mom's home!"

"Okay!" She said, before standing up and saying goodbye to her friends.

His mother stopped at their steps and picked up Jackson's skateboard. Shaking her head, she made a comment about his discarded homework. "Jackson, I'd love it if you finished your homework earlier. It worries me when you stay up as late as you do."

Jackson walked over and jogged up the steps, taking his skateboard and scooping up his books and papers. "Hey, I'm never up past midnight."

"That's still late."

He rolled his eyes as Emma made her way up the front porch and stood next to Jackson.

"Hi, Mom!" she said cheerily.

"Hi, sweetie!" She replied, opening the already unlocked door and leading her children inside.

The kids rarely spent their afternoons inside, only choosing to do so when it got colder. And even then, their mother would come home to Jackson sitting on the porch, doing his homework by himself.

That would usually lead to the two of them arguing over him coming inside. Sometimes his mother won and other times Jackson won. But even when he won, he was forced to at least grab a coat because his mother didn't want him getting sick.

He never did, though.

He liked the cold. He always found it somewhat comforting.


	3. Sneaking

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update! I kept forgetting to upload!

* * *

A couple of weeks went by and Aster adjusted to his job pretty quickly. His mom had gotten used to dropping him off at the Natural Science Center after Nicolas would drop him off at home and he'd gotten used to attending.

He also never mentioned Dr. Pitchiner's hello to Mr. Moon.

He had a feeling it was for the best.

But now he was constantly observing, printing off reports, and studying. Sometimes it overwhelmed him, but when the results impressed him they reassured him that he was in the right job.

Sometimes he would run files to other scientists, under the permission of Dr. Henders. He was the only assistant at the time and now that they saw just how useful he was, other scientists were starting to consider asking for assistants.

He didn't mind either. There were times when giving someone a file was the only useful thing he could do because Dr. Henders and the other botanists would be too busy with their projects to give him anything to do. It was almost better than wandering aimlessly around the garden that he'd seen repeatedly.

But one day, he was handed a file from someone in the meteorology department towards the end of the day and told, "Get this to Dr. Pitchiner's office if you would. I kept forgetting to drop it off today and I'm sure he's wanting to know where it is. Would be easier to do if he actually talked to any of us." The scientist shook his head and laughed bitterly.

Aster couldn't even get out a word of protest before the scientist turned on his heel and left, the file gripped in Aster's hand now.

He had to see Dr. Pitchiner now, as much as he didn't want to. At least he was getting paid.

But when he made his way to Dr. Pitchiner's door and knocked, there was no answer.

"Dr. Pitchiner?"

Silence.

Confused, Aster tried the handle only to find that the door was locked.

One of the scientists in the geology department saw Aster trying to get into his office and stopped when they saw the file in his hand. "Hey, sorry to break it to you, but he's already gone."

Aster turned around at the voice. "Oh. Um. Okay. Guess I'll just come back tomorrow or something."

He went to walk away, but their words stopped him.

The geologist eyed the file in his hand. "Is that the meteorology file? Because if it is, he's been waiting on it for the past week. I'm sure he would rather have it on his desk first thing in the morning."

Aster pointed at the door. "It's locked." He said feebly.

"I know that." The geologist rolled his eyes. "Stay here." And without another word, they walked down the hall, turning towards the main office.

Aster stayed.

He wondered what in the world the geologist could be doing, but his question was soon answered when they reappeared, a green lanyard clutched in their hand with a single silver key dangling at the end, much like the one that was draped around their neck.

They smiled at Aster as they stepped around him and unlocked the door with a deft twist of their hand.

"Oh." Aster said, peering inside the office.

"Well, don't just gawk. Go on in. Leave the file on his desk. It'd save a lot of us some unneeded grouchiness." The geologist slipped the lanyard on Aster's wrist and Aster nearly let it slide off and onto the floor before he snatched it clumsily. The geologist made a noise of amusement and slapped him on the back. "Don't forget to lock up on your way out. See you tomorrow."

Once again, the geologist was gone.

Aster watched them stride away before glancing at the lanyard in his hand. GEOLOGY-PITCHINER was stitched in white. Dr. Henders had a lanyard of her own, but her's was decorated with a couple of keychains and buttons. It was the same with nearly every other scientist's lanyard that he'd seen.

But not Dr. Pitchiner's. It was just a lanyard and a key.

_Figures._

Aster looked up and stepped inside the office. It was as big as Dr. Henders's but it seemed much larger somehow. Probably because it wasn't filled to the brim with plants and sitting chairs. Instead, it was just a desk, a chair, and two simple black office chairs. A spotless whiteboard was on the same wall as the door, and Aster raised an eyebrow at how unused it looked. Dr. Henders's was stained consistently over its surface from where she'd written things.

_Where the hell does he write down all his observations and data? The lab? Just the lab?_

He crept farther inside the office, closing the door gently behind himself. Now he _really_ felt like he was trespassing on forbidden ground.

_Just put the file on his desk and leave._

He walked over to the desk and placed the file next to Dr. Pitchiner's shut-down computer. Nothing else was on the desk except for a single pen and pencil sitting on top of a blank calendar on the top left side of his desk.

It was weird, to say the least.

Aster was more than ready to leave the office (it creeped him out, quite frankly) and he would've left the moment he set the file down, but something caught his eye.

There was a drawer that was slightly ajar, easy to see out of all the order and preciseness Dr. Pitchiner's office possessed.

And it intrigued Aster.

Without even really thinking about it, he felt himself reach forward.

And then he caught himself.

_What are you doing, you idiot!? Just leave!_

He pulled his hand back, but it still hovered in the air.

He wanted to leave… But could he?

Something was telling him to slide open the drawer a bit further and look at what was inside. But that was crazy. What if Dr. Pitchiner figured out that Aster had looked through his files? And what if the files were confidential?

The Natural Science Center didn't have much to hide, but some labs were still working with confidential things.

Aster could be crossing over into some seriously not-to-be-tampered-with information.

Somehow, this didn't stop him.

He gave in, sighing and walking around the desk. He hunched in front of the drawer and pulled it out farther. "Let's see what we've got in here." His emerald eyes shot over to the door as a precaution, and when he felt it was safe enough to take a look, he did.

He pulled out a slightly disheveled file, deciding that it was probably what Dr. Pitchiner had handled last.

It was old and beaten, obviously worn out form being held and flipped open so often. A single word was scrawled in fading black ink on the tab: **CONSTELLAR**

Aster bit his lip and flipped it open.

The first thing he saw, shocked him and he could help but mutter, "What the hell."

It was an old faded photo of two young men, smiling and standing in front of a forest, backpacks thrown on their shoulders and eyes shining with fascination.

It looked like a much younger and happier version of Dr. Pitchiner. But it was the man next to him that made Aster stop and stare in disbelief.

It looked like Mr. Moon.

He, too, looked much less worrisome and more youthful, but surely enough it was him. Just seeing the two men together threw Aster so far off that he couldn't help but pick it up and look closer.

He flipped it over and found a date telling him that the picture was taken more than twenty years ago.

Mr. Moon and Dr. Pitchiner had been friends decades ago.

His interest switched to the paper underneath the photo, where what looked to be a letter lay.

As Aster glanced over the elegant handwriting, he saw that certain parts were scratched out rather angrily, even tearing the fragile paper in some places. Other fragments were circled and comments that looked more like chicken-scratch filled the margins. His eyes flitted to the bottom of the letter where it was simply signed _Moon._

Looking closer, he tried to find out what Mr. Moon had written.

…**You should come by sometime. I could use the company…**

The word 'company' was circled and a line was drawn from that to a comment in the margins that accused Mr. Moon of telling him he was only useful if they were together.

…**I hope you understand that we cannot tell anyone of ****our discoveries ****in the cavern…**

…**I'm just a bit concerned. ****Evie**** is too. Haven't you spoken to her?...**

The strikeout pointed to a question: _Haven't you?_

…**Will you ever come out of that lab? We're not getting paid overtime, ****Kozmotis****. At least I'm not…**

The comment that the 'Kozmotis' strikeout was the most chilling and Aster shook his head after reading it: _He's gone. Pitch Black._

Something made a noise out in the hall.

Aster held his breath, frozen in his crouch on the tiled floor.

He heard loud laughing from multiple people in the hall, their footsteps loud and intrusive. They kept going and going, fading away as time went on.

Aster blew out a long breath, blinking several times and looking back at the paper.

What did 'Pitch Black' mean? Who was Evie? Was Mr. Moon trying to convince him to give up the obsession he'd mentioned when he spoke to Aster about him?

What was his obsession?

Maybe it was in the file.

Aster lifted up the letter.

Below the letter was a folded map, the creases nearly tearing the paper in squares. Nearly everything was in pieces in the file, but this was the closest to falling apart entirely.

He had to take a moment to convince himself to pick it up.

And when he held it between his thumb and index finger carefully, he had to convince himself to open it as gingerly as possible.

When he did, he was surprised to find that it was a pretty detailed map of the outskirts of Burgess. There was nothing but trees west of Burgess and this map seemed to show every single one of them. A jotted red line lead from an old hiking trail to the middle of a clearing. The chicken-scratch was back again, but it looked much less angry over the supposed clearing: _CONSTELLAR CAVERNS_.

_Constellar caverns? What the hell are those?_

He gave it another odd glance before folding it back up and sliding it back in the file. When he went to put the letter and photo back in the file, he tilted it a bit too far to the right, causing the rest of its contents to spill onto the floor.

"Shit." Aster whispered as he immediately when to snatch up various papers and photos.

One of the photos in particular caught his attention. A cluster of pure white moonflowers sprouted up in patches, some larger than the area of his own bedroom. It seemed to be dark when the picture were taken, because the flash was used, but the blooms on the flowers were completely open.

Moonflowers opened at sunrise and closed back up in the middle of the daylight.

They were never open at night.

"Dr. Pitchiner?"

Aster jumped, his heart racing and thumping loud in his ears. He hadn't heard anybody approach the door and the voice on the other side of it scared him to say the least.

"Dr. Pitchiner, are you in there?"

Aster shoved the rest of the contents of the file back in.

Another voice: "He's probably gone."

Slipping the file back in with the rest in the drawer, he scrambled to his feet.

"I'm just going to check."

The door clicked open.

Aster pushed the drawer just enough to make it look like it hadn't been disturbed.

A geologist appeared at the door way, looking around and finding Aster. He made a face. "What are you doing in here?"

"Uh, just dropping off a file."

"You have his key."

Aster's eyes snapped to the green lanyard twisted on his wrist. "Uh, yeah. One of the scientists got it for me so I could drop it off."

He lifted his gaze up, trying to see the top of the desk clearly. Surely enough, a file sat on the edge. "I see." He gave Aster a look that reminded the teen of his parents when they were about to scold them. "You should get back to Dr. Henders now."

Aster crossed his arms and nodded, still feeling jittery and too exposed for his comfort. "Yeah, yeah. I'm going." He forced a smile as he walked out, passing by the scientist and out the door.

"Hey!"

Aster froze and turned slowly, a bewildered look in his eyes. "Yes?"

"Are you going to lock the door?" The geologist looked unamused with Aster as he pointed at the handle.

"O-oh, yeah!" Aster shakily replied, rushing forward to pull the door shut and lock it. "Sorry, I just- I thought maybe you were going inside?"

"By myself?" The geologist scoffed and the other one next to him shook his head. "Nobody goes into Dr. Pitchiner's office alone."

Aster's face fell and he ducked his head, making an escape while he could. "See you tomorrow." He managed to say. He wanted to get out of there before anyone could really blame him for anything.

"See you." The geologist said icily.

He didn't tell Dr. Henders of his discovery in Dr. Pitchiner's office. Not that he ever would. Sneaking around was highly frowned upon in any situation involving confidentiality. Granted the file didn't have any blatant warnings on it saying that the contents of it were to remain secret, it practically screamed secrecy.

He thought of the photograph and the strange moonflowers. What had happened between Mr. Moon and Dr. Pitchiner? And what did moonflowers have to do with it?

What did constellar caverns have to do with it?


	4. A Search and Just Scraping the Surface

It's back. WHAT.

Have some fun, all of ya, and thanks for reading. (Also I'm having trouble with separating my sections in this? There was once upon a time a nifty button that I could press and it would provide a line. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Meh. Either way. *thumbs up*) EDIT: I found it, nevermind.

* * *

"Why not?" Jackson questioned, as if the answer weren't already plain as day.

You know, because when one of your best friends tells you that they found a file in an apparently "dangerous" man's office (at least according to your geology teacher) that leads to some questionable caverns in the woods with the oh-so-bright idea to trek on and find it, you would so want a part in it, no matter how unsafe and potentially hazardous it sounds.

Right?

Wrong. Oh. So so wrong.

Tooth's eyes widened and she held her hands out, like they offered the answer themselves. "It's dangerous!"

"You know, if you're so concerned you could go with us." The brown-haired boy suggested.

Tooth let out a short, humorless laugh, keeping her eyes on Jackson. "Ha! No! Jeez, am I the only one with any sense of self-preservation here?"

"Tooth, something serious happened out there. And I wanna find out what it is." Aster told her.

Tooth pouted, crossing her arms and looking at all of her friends. "You guys are going out there no matter what, aren't you?"

Sandy, Nic, Aster, and Jackson all exchanged looks before facing Tooth.

"Yes." Nic answered as the others shrugged and nodded.

Tooth knew she couldn't let her best friends go into the woods alone. If they got hurt, she'd never be able to forgive herself. She really didn't want to go with them, but if it meant she would be able to keep an eye on them, then she would do it. She sighed in defeat, looking at the white surface of the lunch table they sat at. "Fine. I'm going." Her violet eyes snapped up to Aster's bright green ones. "When do we do this?"

Aster looked at all of his friends, his eyebrows raised. "Tonight sound good?"

* * *

It didn't sound good.

But still, she went.

They didn't leave until after everyone was able to. Nic and Sandy just went to Nic's house and waited until everyone was ready to go. Jackson had to wait until his mother got home so that his sister would have someone to look out for her. Aster had to get off of work. Toothiana had to help her parents with closing the office.

After all was said and done, the sun was just beginning to set, but the world wouldn't become dark until another couple of hours. Fall was approaching, but it would be awhile until the daylight was stolen from the afternoon.

"I can't believe you guys are doing this." Tooth grumbled as she yanked her falling sock back up her leg. She was wearing a pair of lace-up boots she thought were appropriate for the occasion.

"I can't believe you're coming with us." Jackson remarked from her left side.

She was sitting in the middle of the backseat, right between Jackson and Sandy as Aster helped to guide Nic in the front. They all mutually decided that Nic's red truck would be the best for trekking out into the woods. It was pretty comfortable too, and as Tooth leaned her head back on the seat, she found herself drifting off, dreaming that she wasn't on her way to the woods and instead on her way to her home, her warm bed, a nice cup of tea…

"Tooth? Hey, Tooth, we're here." a gentle voice told her.

Tooth blinked a bit before finally opening her eyes. She rubbed at them as she sat up and found that the front doors of the truck were open and the rest of the seats were vacated aside from her own.

Except for one other.

Jackson peered into her face, watching her as she stirred awake. He smirked as she furrowed her eyebrows at him.

"How long was I asleep?" she asked.

He shrugged, making a funny face as he thought. "Oh, like… half an hour? Maybe? It wasn't too long of a drive out here."

"Half an hour?" Tooth asked. Now that she was more awake, she could hear other voices outside of the truck. She heard Nic laugh and something that sounded like someone smacking someone else. Aster, probably, for Nic laughing at whatever joke he just made.

"Yeah, you might wanna get out now." He told her, turning around to open his own door. Once he turned back around he took her hand and began to pull her out of the truck, leading the way outside.

Tooth glanced down at the hand he was holding and blushed. _That's nice…_

When she realized how Jackson holding her hand made her react, she tried to push it down by blurting, "I think I'm good." and slipping her hand out of his.

He glanced back at her and Tooth worried for a moment that she might've offended him. But then he smiled and said, "Suit yourself!" before hopping out of the truck.

He waited for Tooth to get out before shutting the door and turning to Nic. "Sleeping Beauty's up! Let's get going!"

Tooth playfully hit his arm at the nickname as Nic and Aster moved back to shut their doors.

Sandy signed, "Does any of this look familiar, Aster?" and gestured to the surrounding woods.

Aster squinted his eyes against the fading sunlight, turning and turning as he observed his surroundings. They were in a clearing off the highway. Nic had to do a bit of offroading the make it there, so it was definitely off the map. He glanced down at the paper in his hands, a quickly drawn copy of the map he'd seen in Dr. Pitchiner's office. He'd told the main office he needed to drop off a file, even showed them a random file he'd grabbed out of Dr. Henders's office, and they gave him a key. He used the opportunity to snag the map again so he could draw the very map he held in his hands.

"Not… really." Aster said as he checked the trees again.

"Well, where do we start?" Jackson asked, shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets.

Aster walked over the edge of the woods, checking and re-checking his map before finally pointed off to the left. "There."

* * *

It wasn't daylight anymore, and Tooth was beginning to get worried.

Okay, maybe she wasn't beginning to get worried.

She was worried the moment the guys all decided to go out here.

Now it was just getting worse.

"We should go back." Tooth said.

"No, no, no, we're close." Aster assured her as he lead the group through the woods. "We're close." he repeated, quieter this time.

"Aster, friend, it is late. Parents will be worried." Nic told him.

"It's okay, North." Aster told him, gazing up at the trees.

The group exchanged nervous looks behind Aster's back.

"We need to head back." Sandy told the others.

Tooth nodded, trying not to speak out loud about her doubts again. She didn't want to annoy Aster. After all, it was Jackson's job to do that.

"Aster-" Nic started.

"Just a few more minutes." Aster cut him off, turning back and looking at him. "If I don't find anything, we leave. Just give me more time."

Jackson huffed out in frustration. "Look, I'm about to leave. With or without you, Kangaroo."

Aster's eyes switched over to Jackson as he gave him a fiery glare. "Don't call me that."

"We need to leave." Jackson snapped. He stormed ahead of Aster, yanking the map out of his hands as he did.

Aster clenched his teeth together and went after Jackson, spitting out, "Jackson, give me the map."

"No, I'm about to prove to you that there's nothing out here. Dr. Pitchiner is some crazy ding-bat who has some serious attitude issues." Jackson said, flinging the map around as he walked through the trees. He almost ran into one as he mocked Aster.

_Man, it really is getting dark out here._

"You didn't say that back at the school! You wanted to come out here too! Maybe you shouldn't have agreed to go if you thought it was all fake!" Aster yelled after him.

"Here we go." Nic sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, that was before I knew you were going to be a tight-wad about it! Aster, there's nothing here-"

And suddenly Jackson was gone.

It looked like he tripped, but he was nowhere to be found.

Tooth gasped, "Jackson?"

Nothing.

Even Aster stared wide-eyed at where Jackson had been standing just moments before.

"Where did he go?" Nic asked.

Sandy shrugged, looking just as bewildered as the rest of them.

Tooth stepped forward, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Jackson!" She called out again.

The only sound was from the various insects chirping in the woods and maybe a few stray bird calls.

And then, "Hey!"

Everyone froze.

"Hey! I'm down here!"

Tooth and Aster looked at each other for a moment before running over to where Jackson had disappeared.

There, in the ground, was a hole. Something was glowing and the two of them could see a faint outline of Jackson's body as he stared up.

"What the hell…" Aster muttered, getting on his knees.

"Don't just gawk!" Jackson yelled to the Australian, holding his arms up. "Get me out of here!"

"How- What- Jackson, hold on!" Tooth looked back at Nic, a desperate look in her eyes. "What do we do?"

"You idiot!" Aster yelled, leaning farther into the hole. He stretched out an arm. "Come on now, take my hand." He grunted.

Just barely, Aster was able to make out the mischievous look in Jackson's eyes right before he reached up and grabbed Aster's hand.

"Don't mind if I do!" Jackson yanked as hard as he could and suddenly the Australian was tumbling down after him. Jackson replayed the startled look in Aster's eyes over and over again as he burst into a loud and obnoxious fit of laughter. "You should've seen your face!" He managed to choke out as he snorted.

Aster groaned as he stood up. The fall wasn't much, considering there was nothing but soft earth below. The air was stuffy and he coughed as he wiped some dirt off of his right arm- the side he'd fallen on.

He'd fallen.

Because of Jackson.

As soon as Aster collected himself enough to realize the culprit responsible for his fall was within arms reach, he grabbed their collar. Jackson's hands immediately wrapped around Aster's wrists in defense and he tried to stifle his laughing. He brought Jackson close to his face, towering over the shorter teenage boy, and the words he spat out rivaled that of hell fire. "You think this is funny?"

Jackson rolled his eyes, unfazed by what Aster said. "Obviously not."

Now, Aster tossed Jackson against the wall of the hole they'd fallen in. He wasn't playing around. Not this time. This was serious. "How stupid are you, Jackson? This isn't okay. Well, hold on. Maybe you get stuck down here; that was completely fine. But me? Not. Okay."

"Calm down! We're fine." Jackson snapped. He pointed towards the opening of the hole. "In case you haven't noticed, we have friends up there that'll get us out of here."

"CLEAR THE WAY!" A familiar Russian voice called out.

Aster had just enough time to immediately flatten himself against the other side of the hole before a red blur fell in front of them.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

"North?" Aster called out. "What are you doing?"

"You get adventure all to selves?" Nic responded hoarsely as he struggled to clear his throat of the dirt he'd breathed in. He coughed a couple of times before going on. "Do not think so."

"HAVE ALL OF YOU LOST YOUR MINDS?"

All of the guys snapped their heads up at the shrill voice.

Tooth's head was poking over the edge of the hole, bewilderment clearly written all over her face. What were they thinking? Were they trying to have a party in the mysterious hole or something? "Get out of there!" she demanded, her hands clenching the soft grass beneath them.

All three guys looked to one another, silently trying to figure out how they were going to get out. They probably would've been able to get out just fine if Nic was out of the hole. He would have no problem hauling each of the other boys out of there.

But that wasn't exactly an option.

For very obvious reasons.

"You gumby, you were our only hope!" Aster swatted at him.

Tooth made a face. "You know, Sandy and I can help too!"

"How?" Jackson shouted up at her.

Tooth paused, going over what she could do in her head. She was shorter and much more petite that any of the hole-dwelling nitwits she called her best friends. She gave Sandy a questioning look, to which the boy held up his hands as if to say, "Don't look at me!"

Great.

Groaning, Tooth shifted her eyes back to her friends in the hole. "We'll- We'll figure something out, okay? Nic, can you climb up the side?"

"I will try!" Nic called out enthusiastically. Soon enough, he was digging his hands into the dirt and trying to heft himself up the side, but soon fell away as the dirt kept giving out beneath his hands. He frowned at his dirt covered palms and looked back at Jackson and Aster. "I cannot." he said simply.

"Let me try." Aster said, determined to find a way out.

He walked forward, to where Nic had tried to climb, and dug his hands into the soft earth. He managed to make it up a couple of feet, his fingers aching and friends watching, before the wall crumbled suddenly and betrayed him to the floor of the hole.

Did that really have to happen again?

Aster brushed himself off and scowled at Jackson. "This is your fault."

"We wouldn't be out here in the first place if you hadn't snuck around Dr. Pitchiner's office!"

"I didn't sneak!"

"Oh yeah, then how did you find those files, huh? Did they just magically appear and say, 'Oh, Aster don't worry about what you're actually supposed to be doing! Read us instead!' Is that really what you're telling me?"

Aster felt his face getting warmer and warmer by the second as his anger got the best of him. He opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the strangest thing.

Something was glowing.

The ground was glowing.

"What the hell…" Aster mumbled, voice trailing off.

"What is that?" Toothiana's panicked voice came from above.

Jackson knelt down, one hand resting carefully on the dirt. He got close to the center, where the bright blue light was coming from. Where the source was, it was out of sight. It was below the ground.

"I think we found what Pitchiner did." Jackson whispered, staring in awe.

Tooth impatiently crossed her arms, biting her lip. She nervously peered further into the hole. "Don't mess with it!" She screeched when she saw Jackson reach out.

Before she knew it, Sandy was gone and climbing down the side.

"Sandy, no!" Tooth couldn't believe it. This was really happening. All of her friends were crazy.

Sandy gave her an apologetic look before disappearing over the side.

Nic helped make sure the smaller boy didn't fall as he descended. "Sandy, you see this?" He said, pointing to the light.

Sandy frowned, joining Jackson on the ground. Jackson looked at Sandy and the two of them shared a concerned look.

"Tooth, you've gotta see this." Jackson called out.

Tooth got down on her knees, sticking her head out over the side. "This isn't fun anymore, guys."

"Tooth, really, you've got to see this." Aster replied. He still stood safely off to the side, not nearing the glow.

"There's something under here, Aster. Something that's causing this. Any idea what it could be?" Jackson asked.

Aster shrugged, "No, I deal with plants all day. This is something a geologist should answer. Someone like Moon."

Jackson watched the glow before reaching out again. "I'm going to see."

Just as Jackson began to wipe away the dirt, Tooth cried out, "No, wait-!"

Her weight pitched her forward, and she let out a yelp. As she fell, the glow intensified and the only thing she could see was white.

* * *

Seriously, thanks for reading and I am apologetic to those of you that were waiting for this chapter and pretty much the story to continue. I'll try my best to keep up with it.


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